Each Image drawn in charcoal on A2 Cartridge Paper

This set of drawings were composed to portray death. The gravity of the subject matter made me choose to use black charcoal on white cartridge paper. Charcoal is one of my favourite mediums because the mark making can be achieved across the whole tonal scale from deep black to light grey with the smallest change in pressure. I also find the tactile use of smudging charcoal around the contours of the shape using fingertips. I haven’t used charcoal very often in Life Drawing this unit as I’ve been testing different materials. It generally gives me drawings with the most depth though. I am continuing life drawing through out my practice as it keeps my skills as a draftsperson current. It strengthens the hand, eye, mind and body connections used in my haptic observational drawing practice. This is essential for my mono printing practice as each mark made while mono printing is valid and can not be erased. During life drawing I also never erase marks so that I am continually practicing the visual- haptic relationship. The subject matter of death is very personal in these drawing.

This drawing contains five posses where the model wore different costumes/ masks. I set myself the challenge of making a composition on one piece of paper from all the posses in the session. I didn’t know what the different posses were so it was an interesting challenge. It was like a visual puzzle solving where to draw the next pose.

I am aware of the issues of objectification of the female body by the male gaze and the vulnerability of the life model. This was a reason why I went to the Life drawing workshop in Camberwell called Spirited Bodies. The life models shared their reasons for modelling and their experiences of modelling while modelling for us. Some of the models had also modelled in the life drawing class at Wimbledon College. The session gave me a deeper understanding of the motivations and ideas of the models and It reiterated to me the importance of the model artist relationship in producing a truthful drawing.

All images chalk on A1 sugar paper